Romania: National Television violates right to association and freedom of the press
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PHOTO CREDIT: BALKAN INSIGHT
August 4, 2020, Bucharest, Romania -- The Council of Europe reported a Level 2 alert about Romania following the intimidation attacks by the national television towards the Journalists’ Union and Independent newspaper Libertatea.
Following the denunciation of irregularities in the management of the Romanian public television station, TVR by the Romanian journalists' union FAIR-Mediasind, TVR's management has instructed the law firm Zamfirescu Racoti & Partners to take legal action for defamation against the union and against the journalists of the daily newspaper "Libertatea". The union said TVR had allocated a public budget of 50,742 euros to the law firm to bring these legal actions.
Romanian Journalists’ Union, FAIR-Mediasind issued a statement on 28 July accusing the director of the TV station, Doina Gradea, of attempting to intimidate and harass the journalists' union.
In the open letter by five members of the Board of Directors who are also members of the union, they also asked for the resignation of the president-general manager Doina Gradea, following her refusal to present in the meeting of the Board of Directors.
The reason behind the request for resignation was that the average audience of TVR was about 2% and that it no longer fulfilled its public mission because it risks becoming irrelevant to the public. The statement also mentioned that any attempts by the members of the Board of Directors to discuss and adopt solutions for the lack of performance of TVR, was blocked by Doina Gradea claiming them to be “political discussions”.
Signatories also stated that the National Television didn’t serve as a credible source of information for citizens amid Covid-19.
Following the public statement, Romanian Union of MediaSind Journalists were notified with a legal warrant, asking them to stop "immediately any action against the subscriber, respectively to refrain from publishing in any form unfounded/untrue information about the activity of the Romanian Television Company."
As in the case of journalists from the daily Libertatea, the head of TVR, Doina Gradea, cataloged the critics of the press towards the management, as defamations directed against a Romanian public institution.
MediaSind alleges that the lawyers that contacted them and their members have been paid with public money, amounting to more than 50 thousand euros which is in violation of the law.
MediaSind considers such acts as violating the right to unionize of public television employees. This intimidation tactic not only violates the Romanian Constitution but also violates ILO conventions and European Union directives on right to association.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism urges Doina Gradea to act in accordance with the International Munich Declaration of the Duties and Rights of Journalists which encompasses defending the freedom of information, of commentaries and of criticism even if they are directed towards one’s own. Journalists Unions shall not be discouraged in our actions to represent civil society and defend fair reporting in Romania.
